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If you want to read ugly, bad news about this beautiful city of ours, you’re going to have to look to traditional media and other blogs; V.I.A. promotes everything that makes our city awesome, from old to new and everything inbetween. We’re like the human interest piece on the news… only different.

Year after year we have been voted Vancouver's "Best Local Blog" by readers of the Georgia Straight.

Big earrings and gold chains, serious ink and killer heels. Her bold talons will make you dread the day you dare pick a fight with the toughest girl on the block. Rose Raflores is one sassy girl and the founder and owner of Gastown’s recently christened Crown the Queens.

Queens is Vancouver’s first female-based urban lifestyle boutique. It also houses its own private label of one-of-a-kind tees, unique accessories and nail art. According to Rose, the idea for Queens arose out of a variety of influences. She cites music, friends and New York as her key inspirations behind the brand. She says, “My dream is to be in fashion and live in New York – to live that whole lifestyle. I’m just really in love with the city. I feel like the idea for the store came from my love of fashion and the environment. I thought, ‘Why can’t I have the things that I love altogether, and just put it in a store?’”

“The whole store is based on things that I like. Basically, I am sharing with Vancouver and the world what is me: my influences, things that I like, my style. I know that it’s not for everybody, but I am sure that there are things in [the store] that I am sure people will like,” says Rose.

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It’s a new dog twice a week! Click here to find out how to get your dog posted if you haven’t sent in your photos yet!

Today’s dog featured in Dogtown Vancouver is Gracie, Erika K’s pup. Here’s what she had to say about her…

NAME: Gracie.BREED: Dachshund/Jack Russell.HOOD: Mount Pleasant.FAVOURITE SNACK: Yam, carrots and anything she finds on the sidewalk.OTHER INFO: Gracie was adopted from the Cross Our Paws Rescue three years ago. She loves woofing, sniffing and cuddling. She’s the best little buddy a girl could have. If you are seriously thinking about adopting a dog, consider fostering a pup from Cross Our Paws Rescue. They are amazing!

If you’re interested in adopting a pet, check out our Happy Tails feature. If you adopted your pet from the SPCA and would like to share your awesome story on Happy Tails, send an email to Rory.Blanchard@novusnow.ca.

As promised, over the few days leading up I’m going to share some of the best of the collectibles that I’ve managed to procure over the years thanks to Ebay, Craigslist and other ways like trading and the simple good will of people who have donated their Expo 86 stuff to my shelf in order to make me smile (I never got to visit Expo, ya know).

In this third post I’d like to share this collectible spoon I picked up off of Ebay. Like the MUG I shared with you yesterday I overestimated the size of this thing when I ordered it. I pictured myself eating cereal with it every morning but it’s about as long as my pinkie finger from end to end. Still happy to have it on the shelf though…

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SCENE AND HEARD showcases the independent music scene here in Vancouver. We interview some of our favourite local artists, post weekly guest playlists comprised of Vancouver artists and ‘Last Week in Music’ highlights some of the concerts happening around the city…

More West Coast Pop love this week (yes, I was so excited for this show I didn’t go to Fleet Foxes)…three young awesome bands performed at the Red Room, Kingdom Cloud, Oh No! Yoko, and Young Liars and it was excellent. (I also attended a house show where Jamison Troy, Hey Fisticuffs, Bob Kemmis and Jordan Klassen performed, but I wasn’t sure if you’d want to see those photos?…)
Anyways, great week with great people and another one is coming up!

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Every day we share a single photo from our Flickr Pool shot by one of our faithful and talented readers (that’s you!).

A nice springtime image found its way into the pool today, and I thought it would be nice to share it with all of you. A-Top was burning some Fuji film in a twin lens reflex camera (TLR) out at Moody Park in New West recently, and upon seeing some nice contrast in the clouds, decided to tilt the camera up. The result is pretty interesting; the scale of the two kids in the park diminishes considerably, while the sky gains more importance in the frame. He nailed the exposure, which is more difficult than it sounds when photographing clouds.

In contrast to the feeling of relaxation I get from viewing this photo, A-Top has titled this image Rush Hour.